MARTINEZ — Two members of the Norteño gang were convicted earlier this month of murdering a 38-year-old man in a beating so brutal that some investigators initially believed the victim had been struck by a car, court records show.
Jesse Addison, 24, and Erick Ruiz, 29, were convicted of first-degree murder and gang enhancements in the beating death of 38-year-old Johnny Burns, a murder apparently motivated by a gang rivalry and mistaken identity. Prosecutors argued that Ruiz, Addison and a third man mistook Burns as a member of their rivals, the Sureños, called him a “scrap,” then beat him to death.
The third defendant, Abel Garcia, 25, accepted a plea deal in April before the trial and is awaiting sentencing. Burns was killed on July 19, 2019, in Bay Point.
“They quite literally beat the life out of him,” Deputy District Attorney Kristen Busby told jurors during closing arguments. She said Burns denied being a gang member but the three attacked him anyway.
Using a model skull, Busby described Burns’ extensive injuries to the jury in great detail. He suffered 23 broken ribs, broken bones in his eye sockets, skull fractures, a dislocated jaw and his ears were severed from his skull, she said.
The three spent the day hanging out and driving around to memorials of fellow gang members, Busby told jurors, arguing that this fueled their desire to attack a rival.
“Addison, Ruiz and Garcia were out for blood that night,” she said. After the murder, Garcia and Ruiz attacked a man at a gas station elsewhere in Bay Point, she said.
The defense argued that police had not only rushed to judgment, but lied and planted evidence implicating the three. Addison’s layer, Matthew Fregi, said police failed to adequately investigate the possibility that Burns had actually been struck by a car, which he said the autopsy report failed to eliminate.
Fregi also urged jurors to give the defendants the same consideration they’d give anyone else.
“As abhorrent as their lifestyle might be, they still remain human beings,” he said.
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